Don't get me started.........

Because we are basically hotel-bound because of Miguel's treatments and susceptibility to germs, and because we are political junkies, we have the television tuned to MSNBC or CNN all day long. Given the primary-political-season there is extensive coverage of the candidates throughout the day. Then there are special events - tornados, floods, grizzly bear attacks, papal visits, that cut into the political coverage. Yesterday there was coverage on MSNBC of President Bush presenting heart surgeon Michael DeBakey with the Congressional Gold Medal.

Debakey, the son of Lebanese immigrants has had an impressive life. He pioneered procedures for heart bypass surgery and invented medical devices to save the lives of heart patients. He also is recognized for developing the idea of MASH units - battlefield mobile army surgical hospitals. Bush said the award put DeBakey in the company of inventor Thomas Edison, Army physician Walter Reed, who confirmed yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes, and Jonas Salk, who developed the polio vaccine.

MSNBC covered Bush's introduction and then Dr. Debakey, speaking extemporaneously (who did a great job for a man who is nearly 100 years old) talked about his childhood. He and his siblings read every word of the Encyclopaedia Britannica before they finished high school. His parents encouraged a charitable spirit for the whole family. After these anecdotes, Dr. Debakey said that he wanted to talk about the US medical system.

What did MSNBC do? They cut to another story. CNN wasn't covering the award at all.........(nor Fox) Don't you think an august, learned physician with many decades of experience in the medical systems around the world, would have something important to say? Don't you think his thoughts would merit coverage? So - maybe he doesn't deserve live coverage, but what about afterwards - someone must have cared about what he said, no?

While I have been sojourning here in Kansas I have heard and seen many horror stories from people who are uninsured. I am an unabashed supporter of universal medical care. But what does a Congressional Gold Medal winner have to say about it? Do you think I could find this out?

If you go here you can see what NBC Nightly News said about the ceremony. Nothing about his comments about the medical system. If you go to the Dallas Morning News, this is what they reported:

"Dr. DeBakey took the opportunity to urge Congress to do more to provide health care for the poor. He called on lawmakers to consider the model of the Veterans Administration, which provides higher-quality care at lower costs than many other medical services. "There must be something about what they are doing that we can use to expand health care for the needy," he said."

No one has covered what DeBakey said. He had a platform to give some insight from his years of dedicated service and no one cared enough to report it or discuss it. The stupidity is the amount of attention in the media given to the flag-pin debate. Don't believe me, check this out. Not one of those genius pundits could talk about something important like health care - no, it is about patriotism.

Don't get me started